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Mozambique incinerates illegal drugs

More than 17 tons of illegal drugs including cocaine, hashish and marijuana were incinerated in Mozambique this year.

Mozambican prime minister Luisa Diogo told Radio Mozambique on Tuesday, at a ceremony to commemorate World Anti-Drug Day in the central province of Zambezia, that while Mozambique was used as a drug transit it also had high levels of consumption especially among the youth.

"In reality there is need for every one to be actively involved in the fight against proliferation of drugs in the country," she said.

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Diogo said it was the duty of every citizen to ensure that the country was free of drugs, especially hard drugs which were trafficked into the country.

Early this year authorities destroyed the biggest amount of drugs captured in a single raid - in 1997 in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, which included 12 tons of hashish.

Diogo said the increase in cases of drug and alcohol abuse was contributing to the high prevalence rate of HIV and Aids and sexually transmitted diseases.

In Mozambique, the HIV prevalence rate is estimated at more than 16 percent - an increase from 13 percent in 2003.

Mozambique on Tuesday joined the world in commemorating the fight against drugs with ceremonies through out the country.

In the commercial capital of Nampula, Nampula provincial governor Felismino Tocoli led a march through the town before addressing a gathering which included school children - the main target in the fight against drug abuse.

Rui Dawane, head of the anti-drug abuse office in Maputo, told Radio Mozambique on Tuesday that three drug rehabilitation centres would be opened in three provinces to cater for the high numbers of people who were increasingly becoming dependent on drugs.

Recent media reports indicated that more than 20 Mozambican nationals - majority of them women - were incarcerated in Brazil for their involvement in trafficking drugs from that country to Mozambique.

Dawane said that while drugs were trafficked into Mozambique, the country was used as a transit for markets in South African and European markets.

http://www.iol.co.za/

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